Beginning The Journey
By Dr Memory Munodawafa
How do we begin the journey
 What do you want to do?
 Why do you want to do it?
 This decision on how to choose a career must be based on a thorough understanding of
the physical, emotional and intellectual demands required by the chosen profession.
 Social work is an often misunderstood profession – removal of children, giving of grants.

A social worker’s professional responsibilities and personal life are intertwined-see the
whole person, authenticity is important in the work that we do.
 Self-reflection and self-awareness is important in social work, what is your own stuff and
how can you prevent that from impacting your work?
The medical model VS practice model
The medical model
 You leave who you are as a person when you go to work
 You separate who you are from what you do
The practice model
 Suggests that when you work with people, you cannot separate
yourself from your work
 Who you are, where you come from and your history will have a
profound influence on your work
 Your work will have a profound influence on who you are
 E.g. empathy for client based on your own issues e.g. history or
trauma, abandonment – at times we may need to be aware of our
triggers and avoid these
The medical model VS practice model
Professionals work in a range of different settings
Each setting comes with its own challenges
Think about what you want to do
Do you want to work with children, adults, Men,
woeman?
The medical model VS practice model
 The person thinking of social work must consider a number
of factors
1. personal judgement- am I able to function effectively, can I
work with individuals when I am triggered?
2. value base – SWK requires beliefs in values, equality,
human rights, gender equality. If your goal is to make
money- then this profession is not for you, if you believe
that poor people are poor because of their own doing then
you need to be aware of the prejudice.
The medical model VS practice model
skills needed by the profession – flexibility required, using
gentle confrontation in a session
e.g. when client denies that weed is a problem for them but
they are spending their entire salary on it, you would need to
bring this up on the session and ask your client to help you to
understand.
When we work with people, it is our responsibility to look
after them, we need to act in the client’s interests
4. Social work as a profession does not have high status.
What role can you play to uplift the profession’s status?
3.
The medical model VS practice model
Good fit
Why are you doing this?
Are you committed to the work that you want to do?
When you start working with clients you need to be committed
and hold up your of the professional relationship E.g. if you are
doing this course because your parents have suggested it or
forced you to do it, it could impact your commitment.
5.
Must answer the following questions:
 Is being a social worker a meaningful and worthwhile way for me
to live my life?
 Is there a fit between my personal beliefs, values and needs with
the values and needs of the profession?
 At times you will need to have therapy yourself -do you believe in
therapy?
 What impact will social work have on my health, my intellectual
development, my religious beliefs and practices and my economic
situation?
 What impact will being a social worker have on my friends
and family?
 How will being a social worker affect the overall quality of
my life?
 How will the work impact your mental and physical health?
 Salary- this is not a profession that offers a large salary
Self-care

You are your biggest tool- look after yourself and function to the best of your ability .

It is important that we practice self-care and have fun, do more of the things you enjoy.

When we constantly work with trauma and challenges, it can wear you down and make you cynical in the good
nature of people.

Remember that our work is not our life and we need to nourish our spirit, find things that ground us.

There are other strategies:
Friendships and community- we cannot function or live in isolation, get support and talk about the things that
we struggle with.
Self-worth and self-image – we are worthy of love and to be taken care of, we need to be able to look after
ourselves so that we can look after someone else.
Physical and emotional well being is important because we will be dealing with difficult emotions, therapy and
supervision is necessary, exercise and healthy eating.
Intellectual growth – keep reading and keep learning new things.
Religion and spirituality- connection to hope, purpose, grounding serving others, we are part of something
bigger, retain our spirit.
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